The T-Mobile Android phones (such as the G1 and the MyTouch) have all the necessary hardware to support UMA, yet T-mobile does not support UMA on those phones either.
I guess since Nokia support for UMA is very poor (the service is barely a success outside the US), it is very unlikely that the N900 in particular will support it. Obviously, the phone capatibilites of the N900 are very limited, given the fact that there is not even support for video calls or alternate line service. It is therefore very unlikely that UMA is supported...
I guess since Nokia support for UMA is very poor (the service is barely a success outside the US), it is very unlikely that the N900 in particular will support it. Obviously, the phone capatibilites of the N900 are very limited, given the fact that there is not even support for video calls or alternate line service. It is therefore very unlikely that UMA is supported...
I actually had never heard of UMA until i saw this thread. I went digging and what i found made me a fan. It's too bad it's not more widely supported, because i have poor reception at work.
I find your comment amusing because video calls aren't supported in the US, either. Welcome to the stone age...
I too think that UMA makes a hell of a lot more sense than the whole FemtoCell revolution going on. Every smartphone has wifi builtin and with UMA over wifi there is no additional hardware cost to the end user and seamless switching between wifi and towers. I travel a lot and would be able to significantly cut the costs of my phone calls using this technology. If I end up switching to T-mobile I'll probably get a cheap UMA capable phone to use for calls to the US when I am overseas.
As soon as google allows number porting and regular SIP calls I would port my number to GV in an instant and use a poor mans version of UMA. The only thing missing would be seamless handoff between wifi and cellular.
UMA wasn't as glamorous for me as some of you are telling. I'm glad you had good experiences but mine was pretty poor. The quality was not as good as going straight to tower, multiple drops on a very low traffic network and occasional bad static. Also I was never able to successfully switch from WiFI to Tower or vice-versa. They still have work to do with this as the technology I don't feel is polished yet. The concept however is fantastic. I was able to use it in Europe extensively to send texts for work. I was using a Curve 8320. I've since switch to an e71 and use Google Voice with Gizmo5 and works well.
Also have you noticed that there is no UMA in any of the 3G enabled phones (G1, MyTouch?). I don't have verification on this but a guy at the T-Mobile store told me the 3G and UMA functionalities conflict. Anyone else hear this?
UMA wasn't as glamorous for me as some of you are telling. I'm glad you had good experiences but mine was pretty poor. The quality was not as good as going straight to tower, multiple drops on a very low traffic network and occasional bad static. Also I was never able to successfully switch from WiFI to Tower or vice-versa. They still have work to do with this as the technology I don't feel is polished yet. The concept however is fantastic. I was able to use it in Europe extensively to send texts for work. I was using a Curve 8320. I've since switch to an e71 and use Google Voice with Gizmo5 and works well.
Also have you noticed that there is no UMA in any of the 3G enabled phones (G1, MyTouch?). I don't have verification on this but a guy at the T-Mobile store told me the 3G and UMA functionalities(sic) conflict. Anyone else hear this?
This is correct but not for the reason the T-Mobile sales guy indicated. Its isn't a conflict with the devices so much as UMA or GAN relies upon a feature within the MSC or call server. It is more likely that the T-Mobile network topology is not configured in a way that allows a single MSC or call server to perform UMTS, 2G and UMA concurrently. The radio network be it UMTS,GSM or UMA/GAN is homed to a MSC call server that support your geographical area. UMA to GSM handovers are difficult. Put the soft handovers of UMTS on top of this and it becomes a nightmare to provide a level of service without tons of maintenance to prevent an obscene high number of call drops between radio technologies.
Don't get me wrong, we still rock a UMA enabled BB Curve and for people without even 2G coverage at their homes (like my parents in Vermont) it serves them well. I just think everyone (users and operators) is better off using SIP, Skype, or Google Talk on UMTS.
Hi, I saw your Youtube video about Speedtest.net. Just curious, what is the fasted download speed you ever achieved using T-Mobile's 3G connection on Nokia N900? Have you ever achieved download speeds of 7.2 Mbps?
This is correct but not for the reason the T-Mobile sales guy indicated. Its isn't a conflict with the devices so much as UMA or GAN relies upon a feature within the MSC or call server. It is more likely that the T-Mobile network topology is not configured in a way that allows a single MSC or call server to perform UMTS, 2G and UMA concurrently. The radio network be it UMTS,GSM or UMA/GAN is homed to a MSC call server that support your geographical area. UMA to GSM handovers are difficult. Put the soft handovers of UMTS on top of this and it becomes a nightmare to provide a level of service without tons of maintenance to prevent an obscene high number of call drops between radio technologies.
Don't get me wrong, we still rock a UMA enabled BB Curve and for people without even 2G coverage at their homes (like my parents in Vermont) it serves them well. I just think everyone (users and operators) is better off using SIP, Skype, or Google Talk on UMTS.
Not exactly the case. The Blackberry 9700 is 3G and does UMA just fine. It actually handles UMA better then any other phone I have used.
